93 episodes
The result of introducing skeleton delivery, which delivers delivery in the shortest period of time regardless of day or night, from a large city with a warehouse in Formi, was excellent.
If you put up with the service at the risk of a loss, it’s free anyway and they give you a coupon, so people who signed up to try it out were satisfied with the speed and started to sit down.
“The share is rising.”
“What percentage?”
“It is now 3.8 percent.”
The market share of the existing Formi is 3.4 percent.
You might say that the 0.4 percent increase is a big deal, but it was amazing to see tens of thousands of people flocking in such a short time in terms of the number of customers alone.
Even in a few large cities where skeleton delivery is applied, only a few large cities have attracted this number of people, so once the warehouse is completed and nationwide delivery is made in earnest, the market share will rise even more steeply.
“Are the staff well-adjusted?”
“It was my first time working with a skeleton, so there were a lot of trial and error, but thanks to the large number of programmers, everyone is doing well now.”
“It’s good.”
Now that you have the foundation to attract customers, you need to display the products that will open their wallets.
“Have all the products of our partner companies arrived?”
And in that respect, Seron had an overwhelming advantage that could not even be compared with other Internet commerce companies.
Consumer goods are the products that people buy the most on the Internet.
Although fresh products are said to be being traded a lot now, many people still prefer to buy directly from the supermarket, while consumer goods such as electronic products have no expiration date and are optimized for selling online because all products are uniform.
And he said that Ceron has over a thousand partners that make a variety of consumer goods, from electronic products.
“Everything has come.”
“OK.”
At first, I came in just for money, but when I actually did it, the synergy with existing businesses was enormous.
For Seron, who has grown up mainly in the manufacturing industry, Formi was like a good market where they could directly display our products and the products of our partners.
“Please ask the partners to sell them at a lower price as they will cut commissions.”
Unlike other companies that have to put pressure on manufacturers to make it the lowest price, we make everything ourselves, so it’s easier.
“All right.”
“In my mind, I want to take down everything that is on other companies and sell it exclusively in Formi… but it will be difficult right now.”
To go all-in to Formi, which has a market share of only 4%, is the same as giving up on the remaining 96% of the market.
“If Formi grows enough to give up other markets, I don’t know, but not right now.”
“I’m just saying that, I’m sorry.”
“In addition, the Fair Trade Commission may intervene.”
“ah. Fair Trade Commission.”
That’s right.
He could intervene by saying that he pressured his partners by using Seron’s superior position.
That’s not okay.
The Fair Trade Commission is a government organization called the Economic Police. It is a police officer, but if it is limited to the economy, it has the powerful authority to play the role of the police, prosecutors, and even the courts.
“Ultimately, nurturing Formi is the key.”
However, even such a Fair Trade Commission has no basis for intervening if Formi eventually gains a dominant position in the market and receives exclusive delivery.
If anyone can see that it is beneficial for our partners to exclusively supply us, that is part of a fair trade.
But now, forcing Formi to exclusively deliver is an unfair trade.
“This is a dilemma.”
To grow our share, we have to have something of our own.
However, the irony is that in order to do something, the market share must be high.
“That’s why you put so much money into it.”
In the end, no matter what, the Internet commerce competition in which the market share is alpha and omega.
Now you can see the trend of this market.
I said with a smirk.
“Okay. The more difficult it is, the more difficult it is to come down once you go up.”
great.
Let’s do it right.
“It doesn’t matter how much money it costs, so run ads indefinitely.”
Let me show you for sure what money is.
*
Formi has been actively promoting the company to the point where they say that if you turn on the TV, an advertisement for Formi will appear.
Up to this point, people might be swearing at you, saying you’re painting ads, but if you really try it, wow! When people were satisfied with the skeleton delivery enough to make a sound, the market share of Formi gradually increased by word of mouth.
However, there were people who did not like Formi’s actions like this.
It was Kim Won-cheol, the CEO of Bugs, the number one Korean internet commerce company.
“Whoa. Seron.”
Competition between Internet commerce companies was truly reminiscent of the Spring and Autumn Sengoku era.
Days when arrogant commerce companies swarmed and competed like crazy to beat each other.
This competition was like a marathon.
It is also a marathon without an end where you have to run and run until everyone collapses.
In such a crazy competition, the Bugs kept running.
Bugs has endured so far with the hope that one day, he will be left alone with more strength whenever the companies that have fallen behind fall.
Competition intensified as even large companies entered the middle, but Bugs only looked ahead and was able to seize the No. 1 spot in the Korean Internet commerce company.
Of course, there was still anxiety because it was the first place with a slight difference from the 2nd and 3rd companies, but the title of 1st place is evidence of being the most superior in this competition, so Bugs CEO Kim Won-cheol has exerted even more strength.
But suddenly, a formidable opponent appeared in this competition.
That’s Seron.
“You mean turning a warehouse and shipping goods with skeletons? Then, you won’t have to pay the nighttime allowance, so distribution costs will be drastically reduced. shit.”
Not to mention the financial power, the Skeleton Worker is a company that has a cheat.
In addition, since Ceron has numerous manufacturing companies as partners, Bugs, which specializes only in distribution, was more threatening than the entry of existing large companies.
“What should I do?”
The best way is to kill it for sure now, when Formi’s market share is still poor, but seeing Seron’s financial power and Han Ji-hyeok’s move, who took the lead, there was no easy way to back down.
This means that, like a marathon competition, you need to prepare for a long battle.
Kim Won-cheol said with a firm expression.
“First, we need to reduce the logistics cost as much as possible.”
As the long-term battle progresses, the logistics cost gap between Ceron, which uses skeletons, and Bugs, which uses human employees, will grow wider and wider.
“Robot Logistics Systems.”
And the only alternative is to introduce a logistics system using robots.
This system has already been introduced in many advanced countries where labor costs are high, and it has been in the spotlight because it improves distribution efficiency and speed and also has low maintenance costs.
In order to introduce a robot system, the entire distribution center must be overhauled, and Bugs owns thousands of distribution centers, large and small, all over the country.
Of course, it was clear that it would cost a lot of money to replace all these logistics centers with robotic systems.
In the meantime, he was hesitant because it was expensive and he had already won first place, but since Ceron started running, Bugs had no choice but to take out this card.
“Now, I was hoping that the profit would come out and the deficit would decrease a bit…….”
We were able to reduce the deficit a lot thanks to diligent improvement in profitability by utilizing economies of scale.
Kim Won-cheol got up from his seat and said.
“great. lets do it. It was something I had to do someday anyway. It just came earlier than expected.”
Kim Won-cheol called the secretary’s office.
– Yes, sir.
“Please hold a meeting with investors. We need to secure the funds.”
*
Unlike other Internet commerce companies that were skeptical about how to respond to the emergence of Formi, Bugs, the No. 1 player, was definitely agile.
“Introduction of robotic logistics system?”
Bugs responds with a robot when they hit it with a skeleton.
I said as I watched Bugs’ investment announcement.
“By the way, over the next 5 years, you are investing more than 10 trillion won in building a robot system. Does Bugs have this much money?”
In the meantime, Bugs, who has suffered from chronic deficits after countless bloody competitions, is suddenly investing 10 trillion won. Is this possible?
“We have the funds secured through the listing, and we have decided to attract additional investment.”
“Did you invest?”
Kim Deok-bae nodded and said.
“Yes. Aren’t they investors who have already poured a lot of money into Bucks? Of course you don’t want the Bucks to get hit.”
Investors who reinvest themselves even because of their already invested money.
I said with a look of interest.
“Anyway, it’s fun. Somehow, it became a robot and skeleton battle.”
A confrontation between Bugs’ state-of-the-art robot logistics system and Ceron’s skeleton logistics system.
Of course, even if the robot system is introduced, delivery is still carried out by humans, so skeleton delivery will still have the upper hand, but if the logistics cost is drastically reduced, it will be worth trying with Ceron.
However, skeletons have another strength that is definitely different from robots.
It’s just the speed of introduction.
“You mean it took five years to introduce a robotic system to every warehouse?”
“you’re right. But, according to experts, it’s been pretty tight for five years.”
“This is a race against time.”
If Bugs introduces a robotic system before Ceron establishes a nationwide distribution network, the competition will become more difficult.
Conversely, if Bugs completes the establishment of a nationwide distribution network that introduces the skeleton before Bugs completes the robot system, Bugs will have to suffer the double burden of cost for building a robot system and a decrease in market share due to competition.
“Make the logistics center faster. Announcing an investment plan.”
“How much will we announce?”
“We are the same group 10. Instead, hold it for one year.”
“All right.”
I said with a sad expression.
“By the way, if the robot system is introduced, it is necessary to further enhance Formi’s competitiveness.”
Now that Skeleton’s opponent has appeared, we need to secure our own sales points in other areas.
“The monopoly of partners is so unfortunate.”
The best thing to do is to secure exclusive items that can only be purchased from Formi.
I pondered for a moment, then said with my eyes wide open.
“for a moment. There is no need to bring and sell the existing product lineup, right?”
After all, the secondary market is a continuation of copying and copying.
Isn’t Bugs just benchmarking American distribution companies and bringing them back to Korea?
A way to tie up customers through membership subscriptions that offer many benefits and increase market share based on that.
Then, Formi should also follow the proven marketing that existing distribution companies have been doing.
“PB product. Yes, this is it.”
Large supermarkets that create and distribute their own branded products in cooperation with manufacturers.
This PB product was a kind of bait product to attract customers with a low price.
“If you make a PB product and sell it only in Formi, the Fair Trade Commission can’t say anything, right?”
“If it’s not the existing lineup, it doesn’t seem to matter.”
“Good. Then, ask the partners to develop a PB product, one with appropriate performance.”
Usually, large marts work with manufacturers to make PB products by drastically lowering the price of goods instead of guaranteeing sales.
But Seron can go one step further.
“I will deduct the cost of the skeleton, so please make it as cheap as possible.”
Instead of using skeletons to make things, the partners were operating the company by paying Ceron for renting a skeleton.
If you subtract the rental cost from here, you can make things at a price that other companies can’t even imagine.
“All right.”
I said with my eyes shining.
“Then what if there is a sell-out crisis due to word of mouth? nice. There is no such thing as a publicity effect.”
It’s because the effect of publicity on the out-of-stock crisis is much more natural and certain than hitting one hundred days of an advertisement.
I thought for a while and said.
“You have to be insanely cheap to get word of mouth.”
“That’s right.”
“If you pick a few products that people use often and sell them at the original price without leaving a single penny, wouldn’t the probability of cost-effectiveness increase by word of mouth?”
Generally, word of mouth spreads naturally.
However, wouldn’t it be possible to artificially induce word-of-mouth for cost-effectiveness if the Ceron, which makes cost-effective products from the beginning, sets a few items and sells them at insanely cheap prices?
Kim Deok-bae said with a smile.
“If that’s the case, I think it would be better to focus on Ceron’s own products rather than subcontractors.”
“Yes! We sell what we make ourselves at a low price, who would say?”
This competition is a fight that is won if the opponent is exhausted first and leaves.
That’s why everyone is growing in size by taking on the deficit.
Then we have to move together.
Kim Deok-bae looked at me and said.
“First, I will prepare PB products such as clothes and socks for Ceron shoes, and I will give SR Electronics an order to develop PB products.”
“like. Instead, if you make too much, it may affect the sales of existing products, so please adjust it appropriately. Can you do that on your own?”
“of course.”
“good.”
I said with a bright smile.
“In the age of high prices, we will protect your wallet. nice! good! It shows the ultimate king of cost-effectiveness! Absolutely the lowest price!”